I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a combined telephone index and switch arrangement, and more particularly, to a combined telephone index and switch arrangement which utilizes a light sensitive diode to activate a memory area for retrieval of an individual number in that area.
II. Background Art
An automatic dial telephone system is rapidly becoming increasingly desirable to many telephone users, especially businesses. Several relatively recent prior art automatic dial systems have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,908 to Mosley et al, discloses a double scroll arrangement wherein one scroll contains visible names and telephone numbers, while the other scroll is a magnetic tape containing signals which correspond to the numbers on the visible scroll. The tapes of both scrolls must be synchronized and remain syncronized for operation. Both scrolls are conjunctively, and manually manipulated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,722 to Connelly et al discloses a circuitry and searching arrangement for an automatic dialing telephone which utilizes a switch unit 11 of manually operable way (or lead) switches 10. A number can be preset by the switches and a push button actuates a digital tone signal or impulse corresponding to the preset number. And Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,360 discloses a combined telephone index and keyboard for an automatic dial telephone system utilizing a switch arrangement for initially latching onto a block of data of a micro processor, memory autodialer which corresponds to the data on a particular alphabetically arranged index card. The switch arrangement includes a slide card finder having a contact on its base which is adapted to slide over and engage the contact elements fixedly mounted in a base corresponding to a letter of the alphabet. However, utilizing electromechanical contact points in the switch arrangement will eventually lead to difficulties as worn contact points will provide inadequate contact to lock in the locking circuit.
Thus, a need exits for an improved switching arrangement for a telephone card index which can be utilized in conjunction with a keyboard for an automatic dial telephone system.